Obsidian vs TheBrain

Obsidian

• People who want their notes as plain Markdown files they control
• Building a linked personal knowledge base that works offline
• Users who like to customize an app with plugins and themes

TheBrain

• People who organize ideas as a network instead of folders
• Large personal knowledge bases mixing notes, files and web links
• Teams that want one shared, visual knowledge map (TeamBrain)

Obsidian

• There is no web app; Obsidian runs as desktop and mobile apps only.
• Obsidian Sync is a paid add-on, from $4 per user / month billed annually.
• Sync Standard covers 1 vault with 1 GB of storage and a 5 MB file size limit; larger limits need Sync Plus.
• Publishing notes to the web is billed separately from Sync, at $8 per site / month on annual billing.

TheBrain

• Free private sync stops at 1,000 thoughts and 100 MB of synced attachments; going past either needs Pro Service.
• The free AI allowance is a small daily amount, and the vendor says AI services may be unavailable in some countries.
• Multi-user editing and shared brains need TeamBrain, at $299 per person per year.
• Cloud services run only for the paid service period, and on-premises deployment is sold separately through sales.

Obsidian

Local Markdown files

Notes are saved on your device as plain-text Markdown files, so they stay readable in other editors and available offline.

Links and graph view

Notes link to one another, and a graph view draws the relationships between them so related ideas are easier to find.

Canvas

An infinite board for laying out notes, diagrams and research side by side while brainstorming.

Plugins and themes

Thousands of community plugins and themes, built on an open API, change how the app looks and behaves.

Sync (paid add-on)

End-to-end encrypted sync across devices with version history and shared vaults that update in real time for a team.

Publish and Web Clipper

Publish turns notes into a hosted site, priced per site. The Web Clipper extension saves web pages from Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge.

TheBrain

The plex and linked thoughts

Each note, file or link is a thought that can have several parents and jump links to other thoughts, shown in an animated network view called the plex.

Outline, mind map, tree and card views

Besides the plex, a brain can be browsed as an outline, a mind map, cards, or a tree that shows thoughts with more than one parent.

Cerebro AI

An AI agent that answers questions from a brain, creates thoughts and notes, summarizes attachments and suggests links. Free use is a small daily allowance.

Markdown notes editor

Notes are written in a visual editor and stored as Markdown, with tables, math, spellchecking and PDF export.

Sync and Light Attachments

Cloud sync keeps brains current across devices, and Light Sync leaves large attachments online until they are needed. Unlimited private sync is paid.

Shared pages and local API

Any thought can be published as a web page that needs no account to view, and a local API lets scripts and AI agents create and query thoughts.

Obsidian

• Obsidian app$0

  The full app with local Markdown notes, links, graph, canvas, plugins and themes. No account needed.

• Sync Standard$4

  per user / month, billed annually ($5 billed monthly)

  Encrypted sync for 1 vault with 1 GB of storage, a 5 MB maximum file size and 1 month of version history.

• Sync Plus$8

  per user / month, billed annually ($10 billed monthly)

  Sync for 10 vaults with 10 GB of storage (upgradable to 100 GB), 200 MB maximum file size and 12 months of version history.

• Publish$8

  per site / month, billed annually ($10 billed monthly)

  Publishes selected notes as a website with a custom domain, password protection, graph view and full-text search.

• Catalyst$25

  one-time payment

  Optional supporter license with early access to beta versions, community badges and exclusive channels.

• Commercial$50

  per user / year

  Optional license for organizations that want to support development. It is not required to use Obsidian at work.

TheBrain

• Free App$0

  The complete app with unlimited thoughts, links and brains, unlimited public brains, private sync up to 1,000 thoughts and 100 MB of synced storage.

• Pro Service$15

  per month, billed at $180 per year; $16 billed monthly

  Unlimited private sync, the full daily Cerebro AI allowance, 30 GB of online storage, encrypted backup and one-on-one support.

• TeamBrain$25

  per person / month, billed at $299 per year; $29 billed monthly

  Everything in Pro Service plus multi-user editing and sync, unlimited shared brains, 100 GB of storage and per-user reporting and auditing.

• Max Service$40

  per month, billed at $479 per year; $48 billed monthly

  Everything in TeamBrain plus 4x the Cerebro AI allowance, 250 GB of storage, unlimited sync devices and early access to new features.

• EnterpriseCustom

  On-premises server deployment, arranged through the sales team.

Obsidian

• Annual discount

  20% lower price with annual billing

  Sync is $4 per user / month billed annually versus $5 billed monthly, and Publish is $8 per site versus $10: a 20% saving on each.

• Education

  40% off Sync and Publish for students and faculty

  Students and faculty members of schools and universities can apply for 40% off Obsidian Sync and Publish from their account dashboard, using a school email.

• Nonprofit

  40% off Sync and Publish for nonprofits

  People who run or work at a nonprofit organization can apply for 40% off Obsidian Sync and Publish, using their organization email.

TheBrain

• Annual discount

  Save 7% to 20% with yearly billing

  The store labels yearly billing as saving 7% on Pro Service ($180 a year against $16 a month), 16% on TeamBrain and 20% on Max Service.